Interstate Highways

[CG6468]

Should interstate highways be rebuilt and changed to toll roads to create jobs?

[Chris_]

I'm not a big fan of toll roads and I don't think many people are.

Maybe if the state DOT spent money on roads instead of greenways and bicycle paths, they would have money to fix their interstates.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Not keen on the idea, but it should be left to the states if it's going to happen.  A big problem with it is that it pushes a huge amount of traffic onto secondary roads that aren't maintained for it, since the existence of parallel multilane interstate routes has generally meant those local, state, and US highways have gone through little or no expansion since the interstate right-of-way went in.

[NHSparky]

Problem is, state gas taxes were SUPPOSED to go for the maintenance and building of roads.  Last time I checked here, nearly 2/3 of the gas taxes collected was used for purposes OTHER than roads.

[DLR Pyro]

Problem is, state gas taxes were SUPPOSED to go for the maintenance and building of roads.  Last time I checked here, nearly 2/3 of the gas taxes collected was used for purposes OTHER than roads.

 

Yep.  Now if they want to suspend the gas tax and only collect tolls to pay for the building and maintenance of the roads, I might consider it, but who thinks the governement will ever give up the gas tax cash cow?

[DefiantSix]

 

Yep.  Now if they want to suspend the gas tax and only collect tolls to pay for the building and maintenance of the roads, I might consider it, but who thinks the governement will ever give up the gas tax cash cow?

Actually, they've been looking at "other options" - including toll roads - for the last several years, because these same progressive politicians who have been demanding higher fuel efficiency ratings from the vehicles on their streets are discovering that - su-prize, su-prize, su-prize - as the fuel efficiency goes up, the amount of gas purchased - and taxed to hell and gone - goes DOWN.  Their damned "cash cow" is drying up on them, courtesy of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

[Rugnuts]

here in MN they added lanes on the busiest interstates through the metro area that are toll lanes. people want to use the new lanes with less congestion they pay for it, if you dont want to pay for the empty lane, you get to use the congested lane. that makes sense.
they could do something like that for roads that need upgrades.

general upkeep should be paid for with the "Direct Tax" that was created for it. I.E. GAS TAX.

[FreeBorn]

The New York State Thruway opened in 1959 complete with toll booths installed throughout its length.

It was promised at the time that the toll booths would be removed once they had recovered the cost of building the Thruway in twenty years, 1979.

1979 came and went a long time ago and those toll booths (and their state union employees) aren't going anywhere.

[NHSparky]

Mass Pike was the same way.  Tolls on the Spaulding and I-95 have doubled since I moved here 5 years ago.  Scoobie and I spend upwards of $125/month on them.

Of course a couple of years ago they proposed a "commuter limit" which would only charge the first 30-40 tolls (we each do 3 each way to a from work per day at 75 cents per minus discount, so we'd blow through that in a week.)  It was voted down--BY THE REPUBLICANS, if you can believe it.

[CG6468]

The New York State Thruway opened in 1959 complete with toll booths installed throughout its length.

It was promised at the time that the toll booths would be removed once they had recovered the cost of building the Thruway in twenty years, 1979.

1979 came and went a long time ago and those toll booths (and their state union employees) aren't going anywhere.

Same thing with the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois. But now the tolls will increase dramatically on January 1, 2012.

[Evil_Conservative]

Absolutely not.

[Evil_Conservative]

Same thing with the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois. But now the tolls will increase dramatically on January 1, 2012.

I got pissed off when I saw the new toll prices in IL and I'm not even a resident.  $3.60 for a stupid toll on a shitty road?  No thanks.  I think it was going up to $1.80 per car at the Janesville/So. Beloit toll.  Sorry, don't know toll road names... just know their locations so I can try to avoid them if at all possible.

[NHSparky]

Also just looked at my EZPass statement for last month.  $13 to cross one stinking bridge in NYC?

[vesta111]

Ruggggg, been a few years at best but getting off the George Washington bridge to get to the sea coast to come to Maine  was THE PITS.

Pot holes big enough to dump a refrigerator in, small WV disappeared on that road.

New Jersey has a tole road that costs the earth but one gets where they want to go.

So what is your choice , fly and have grandma get strip searched , wife  get her boobies manhandled or  kids accompany you learn it is OK to allow some strangers to touch their privates????

Lots to consider here Price is one, cheaper to fly then by go by Amtrak, cheaper to go by bus, leave the driving to them.

So what to do, fly, go by rail or go by bus.

[NHSparky]

I got pissed off when I saw the new toll prices in IL and I'm not even a resident.  $3.60 for a stupid toll on a shitty road?  No thanks.  I think it was going up to $1.80 per car at the Janesville/So. Beloit toll.  Sorry, don't know toll road names... just know their locations so I can try to avoid them if at all possible.

I remember when I lived in CA there weren't many toll roads in SoCal, but you did have the 73, the 241, and the 91 "Express" lanes.  IIRC, the 73 and 241 were flat-rate, but the 91 varied based on day and time of day, to where you were paying up to $9.  For a 10-mile stretch of road.  Then you were stuck in the same bullshit traffic from the end of the Express lanes out to I-15 (or beyond).  I remember leaving the house in Fountain Valley and going to Vegas.  We didn't get the early start (left around 2 in the afternoon).  We didn't get to Glen Helen (215/15 junction) until almost 6.  That is NORMALLY an hour drive, tops.  Then there was the accident just before Barstow.  Then the one on Mountain Pass between Baker and the Nevada state line. 

Talk about your damned if you do, damned if you don't choices.

[vesta111]

I remember when I lived in CA there weren't many toll roads in SoCal, but you did have the 73, the 241, and the 91 "Express" lanes.  IIRC, the 73 and 241 were flat-rate, but the 91 varied based on day and time of day, to where you were paying up to $9.  For a 10-mile stretch of road.  Then you were stuck in the same bullshit traffic from the end of the Express lanes out to I-15 (or beyond).  I remember leaving the house in Fountain Valley and going to Vegas.  We didn't get the early start (left around 2 in the afternoon).  We didn't get to Glen Helen (215/15 junction) until almost 6.  That is NORMALLY an hour drive, tops.  Then there was the accident just before Barstow.  Then the one on Mountain Pass between Baker and the Nevada state line. 

Talk about your damned if you do, damned if you don't choices.

Up here it is not the roads that are that bad it is the 100 year old bridges that are ready to collapse.   

We had one heck of a scare here 3 years ago, a family crossing from NH into ME. had the go light on this large old bridge, a draw bridge to allow ships to get up river.   Someone was asleep at the switch, the bridge had not come down fully, stopped about 10 feet up from the road way.

For some reason the driver slowed down from the speed limit, it was night and dark, something caught his attention and he stopped the car about 2 feet from the drop off into the river.  What a mess that was, so close to death, had he been alone, had a few drinks and doing the speed limit, he would have driven into the drink.

We have hundreds of bridges in ME and NH that need repair.   One Bridge down river also a draw bridge is being rebuilt, the cost is in the millions, the NH town the bridge starts in has to face the loss of uncounted millions in business as now natives and tourists just blow by taking a high level bridge.

Crap, I can drive around pot holes on the interstate but when I cross a bridge and see much rust and wear on it, I wonder what the underside looks like.